


Drive

by scullywolf



Series: TXF: Scenes in Between [120]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M, Gen, MSR, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-11
Updated: 2016-01-11
Packaged: 2018-05-13 04:19:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5694496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scullywolf/pseuds/scullywolf





	Drive

_“We can be in and out in a day. Nobody has to know.”_

For several long seconds, he watched her entire thought process play out over her face, in her eyes. He watched her argue with herself, consider and reconsider his suggestion, weigh the potential fallout against the prospect of spending a day doing something that was actually _interesting_. When she closed her eyes, dropping her shoulders and sighing through her nose, a wide grin broke across his face; they were going to Nevada.

Mulder was in the driver’s seat and turning the key in the ignition before Scully even opened her door. Feeling lighter and more optimistic than he had in days, he drummed his hands on the steering wheel as she got herself settled and seatbelted. 

“Mulder--”

“Tell me you haven’t been bored as hell, too.”

She sighed. “Of course I have, but Mulder…” She waited until he looked over and met her eyes. “Twenty-four hours, okay? That’s it. Regardless of what we find -- or _don’t_ find -- we will offer our expertise, and then we are walking away. A.D. Kersh has made it very clear he expects us back in Washington the day after tomorrow, and if we miss our flight home because we got sucked into an unauthorized investigation--”

“In and out in a day, Scully. Kersh will never find out.”

“Famous last words,” she muttered as he put the car in gear. “There’s also the matter of the six farms we still have yet to visit.”

“So we’ll say we went by and nobody was home. Leave it for the Boise field office to follow up on. Hell, it should have been their job to begin with. Kersh wants to bitch about wasted Bureau resources, how about flying us all the way out from DC for this? I wonder if there’s a line item on the expense report for costs associated with giving a literal crap assignment out of pure spite.”

She shook her head, grinning. “Yesterday morning you were thrilled just to get out of the bullpen and out in the field for a few days.”

“Yeah, out of the bullpen maybe but right into the bullsh--”

“All I’m _saying_ ,” she said pointedly, “is that it could be worse. We could be crammed in a room right now with a bunch of other agents, and instead we’re at least driving around through what you have to admit is some fairly scenic farmland.”

Mulder spared a moment to mourn their lost office. The basement may not have been prime real estate, but at least they’d had a goddamned door. Working in the bullpen on a temporary assignment was one thing, but with no end in sight? He honestly wasn’t sure how long he’d be able to put up with it. He didn’t know how those poor bastards did it, year after year, desks piled up practically on top of each other, no moment without at least four conversations going on simultaneously. 

She was right. Humiliating though their current assignment was, at least it was just the two of them.

“Well, enjoy the view while you can, I guess. We’ll be hitting desert in about half an hour.”

He glanced over and saw her smiling. “The desert can be pretty, too.”


End file.
